William Shakespeare

The Complete Literary Works of William Shakespeare

SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616), the supreme English poet and playwright, universally recognized as the greatest of all dramatists.

A complete, authoritative account of Shakespeare's life is lacking; much supposition surrounds relatively few facts. His day of birth is traditionally held to be April 23; it is known he was baptized on April 24, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. The third of eight children, he was the eldest son of John Shakespeare (d. 1601), a locally prominent merchant, and Mary Arden (d. 1608), daughter of a Roman Catholic member of the landed gentry. He was probably educated at the local grammar school. As the eldest son, Shakespeare ordinarily would have been...